


You Are the God and the Weight of Her World (So fathers be good to your daughters)

by Gryffindancer



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Darcy Lewis is Tony Stark's Daughter, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fatherly feels, Feels, Marriage, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony is figuring out how to Dad, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-31
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-04-18 09:09:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4700351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gryffindancer/pseuds/Gryffindancer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy and Clint are getting married. Tony is having weird fatherly feels.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Are the God and the Weight of Her World (So fathers be good to your daughters)

**Author's Note:**

> So I went to a friend's wedding last weekend, and during the reception I suddenly had the inspiration for this story. Because like, duh.
> 
> I have always liked the DarcyIsTony'sDaughter trope, and I finally got an excuse to write it. So yay for tropey goodness. Also, I originally meant for this piece to be a quick thousand words or so, and then it exploded a little. Not so much that it's crazy long, by any means, but it sort of got away from me all the same.
> 
> Mistakes are all mine. Marvel, sadly, is not.
> 
> The title is, of course, from John Mayer's _Daughters_. Because cheese goes well with everything.

Tony Stark didn't know he had a daughter until she was nineteen.

He actually remembered her mother. She had been a very pleasant, if somewhat intoxicated, week in Paris. He had been there for a conference, of which he attended all of twenty minutes of a lecture that he was supposed to be giving, before walking out of the room, straight out of the hotel, and leaving in a taxi.

She was an American painter, who had come to work and study art. And when he ended up in Monmartre, completely lost, she stopped to give him directions back to the hotel. But after calling Happy to let him know he hadn't been killed or kidnapped, Tony decided to shack up with her for a week instead.

Now, not quite two decades later, Tony stood in his workshop, with Laura Lewis' letter in his grease-covered hand. She was dying of pancreatic cancer, and she wanted him to know about his daughter. She told him that his daughter's name was Darcy, and that she had his coloring, but Laura's eyes. Laura wasn't asking for anything. In fact she preemptively refused anything he might decide to offer. But she said that she had always intended to tell him someday, and she was quickly running out of days in which to tell him. 

Tony ended up doing what he did best with unwanted emotional issues. He drank himself into a stupor, sobered up again and built a new robot. And he quickly tried to ignore the information, hoping that it would just go away if he forgot about it.

*

Darcy was a bit lost after her mother's death. She had had to get a second job, to help cover her tuition at Culver, and she changed her major - again. This time, to poli-sci.

She and her mom had been best friends. When she had been in high school, many of her friends had liked the show _Gilmore Girls,_ but not Darcy. That had pretty much been her day-to-day life, even down to the super rich, estranged grandparents - she didn't need to watch it on T.V.

It had been difficult to watch her mom get sicker and weaker. And even harder to bury her and have to get on with life, like everything was the same. Darcy's grandparents had never approved of Laura's career choice. She was a middle school art teacher, and sold her paintings on the side. But they would have been much happier if she had just found a nice, rich, ivy-league man, and settled down to be the Little Woman at home.

So when their daughter had returned from her year of studying art in Paris, pregnant, and with no ivy-league man in sight, they cut her off. Laura figured out how to survive and how to raise her daughter all on her own, and she'd always intended on telling both Darcy and Tony the truth. But in the end, it came down to two letters in sealed envelopes. One that was sent to Malibu, California, and the other that was distributed along with her rather meager estate. But only one of those letters was ever opened. 

Darcy couldn't bring herself to open the last message from her best friend. Because once she opened it, her mother would never say anything new to her. As long as she held onto that letter, and never read it, there was always a few more words for her from her mother left in the world.

So the first time that Darcy Lewis met Tony Stark, her only thought was that he was kind of an ass.

*

The first time Tony met Jane Foster, she was moving all of her customized equipment into her personal lab at Stark Tower. He had been informed that Dr. Foster had insisted on keeping her personal intern, and had somehow fineagled her onto the payroll and into on-site housing as well. 

Her intern was, at that moment, yelling extremely loudly at two of the lab grunts who were helping to move all of the equipment.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" The short brunette shouted, stomping one Doc Marten-clad foot for emphasis. "That thing is literally half a toaster and a Windows 95 era laptop held together with duct tape and twist-ties. How the hell are you gonna just drop it like that and think I'm not gonna kick your ass?" The lab grunts hauled-ass back out of the lab.

 _My kind of kid._ Tony thought as Jane thanked him for what was going on the hundred and fiftieth time for investing such a keen interest in her work.

"Darce, stop scaring those poor boys, and come be social." Dr. Foster called to her intern.

Foster's intern came over. She was dressed in a pair of denim cutoffs, a pink crocheted beanie, and a well-worn Metallica t-shirt. 

"Darce, this, of course, is Tony Stark. The sole reason we have actual funding, and rent-free housing." Tony gave a cocky smirk, and extended his hand. "Mr. Stark, this is Darcy Lewis, my amazing intern."

 _Darcy Lewis..._ For some reason that name sounded incredibly familiar. She took his extended hand and gave it a firm shake as she absently popped a pink bubble of Bazooka. _Darcy Lewis...Darcy Lew-_ Tony's smirk dropped immediately.

*

Darcy was freaked out enough just meeting Tony Motherfucking Stark, and then when she had shaken his hand, he had suddenly gone pale and his hand went clammy.

But Darcy just figured that all billionares were probably weird, and didn't give it much thought beyond that before she moved on.

Especially when later that evening a blonde man with killer biceps dropped out of the air vent above her and immediately started flirting with her. She could definitely get used to living in Stark Tower, where hot guys literally dropped out of the sky, or appeared out of thin air.

But she did find it weird, a week later when she was called down to the medical wing for more blood testing. She'd already had a vial of blood taken when she and Jane had first moved in and had been given a full medical check up. Apparently, it was Stark Industries policy to have samples for all of their employees. Something about having control samples on hand in case of testing later for traces of chemical leaks, and experimental airborne toxins. Darcy asked the doctors why they needed more blood from her when they hadn't needed more from Jane, but they were hopelessly vague about the whole thing.

Seriously. Billionaires.

Another week later, Pepper Potts herself, called Darcy to set up a meeting.

Darcy tried her hardest not to be completely freaked out. Not that she did very well at it. Especially, when she showed up and found out that Tony Motherfucking Stark was also apparently going to be present for this meeting.

"Ms. Lewis, please come in." The perfectly shod, perfectly manicured, and otherwise perfectly groomed woman asked, when Darcy had appeared in Pepper's outer office, in her most professional-looking outfit (that still included a pair of chucks).

"Would you like any tea, or coffee?" Pepper asked, settling behind her sleek glass desk, and crossing her legs.

"No thanks." Darcy said, fiddling with the button on her vintage (read: Goodwill) blazer. She glanced nervously to Tony who sat on the wide window sill behind Pepper. "I'm actually super curious why you called me here today."

"Ms. Lewis, I see from your personnel file that your mother is deceased?" Began Pepper, folding her hands together on the desk in front of her.

"Yeah," Darcy went from curious to incredibly confused, "She died five years ago. Pancreatic cancer."

Behind Pepper, Tony sucked in a breath.

"Lewis -" He started.

"Tony, I don't think-" Pepper interrupted him, but he held up a hand.

"No, it's okay. I've got this." He smiled at Pepper before turning back to Darcy. "About five and a half years ago, I got a letter in the mail from a Laura Lewis." 

Darcy's eyes went wide.

Tony continued, "She told me that she was dying of pancreatic cancer, and that she just wanted me know about her daughter...My daughter. She said her name was Darcy."

Darcy had that feeling in her gut like when you walk down a set of stairs and miss a step.

"Ms. Lewis," Pepper started again, "We had your DNA tested against Tony's. It's a match."

Darcy wasn't sure how to respond, but the "Um...Thanks?" She threw out after a stunned moment didn't seem quite enough to cover it.

*

Tony Stark didn't know he had a daughter until she was nineteen, and he didn't meet her until she was twenty four. But now, he couldn't imagine a life without her.

She was technically Dr. Foster's intern, but she took care of all the scientists at Stark Tower. She brought in homemade cookies and brownies, and made sure they ate three times a day, and slept for a few hours out of every forty-eight or so. She made the best coffee, and used it as a bargaining chip ("Sign these forms and you can have the coffee cup, Tony. And don't steal my pen!")

She had probably prevented three lab explosions already, just by being a sane, and normal - normal being a relative term - influence that kept the Stark Industries science department afloat.

But Tony was much less sure how to navigate the waters of paternity.

He was fine the night that they had gotten wasted on 30 year old scotch together.  
("Sh-shit, Lewis. This scotch is older than you. Shit, you shouldn't be drinking, you're my kid!"  
"Shut up Tony the Tiger, I'm twenty-four.")

He told himself he was fine the morning that he ran into Darcy sneaking out of Barton's tower apartment in her dress from the night before, and holding her shoes.  
("What the hell, Lewis?"  
"Shut up, Tony. He's hot.")

He tried his best to be fine when something _did_ explode in Foster's lab, and Darcy had ended up in the medical wing with stiches and a severe concussion.  
("You have to be more careful, Lewis!"  
"This coming from the guy who gave a terrorist organization his home address."  
"Shove it, Barton. No one asked you."  
"Seriously, Tony. I'm fine. A few stitches, a little puking, and I'm golden. I don't need a safety lecture from you."  
"But you're my kid."  
"Tony, I'm not a kid anymore.")

Tony slowly got better at figuring out how to be the parent that Darcy needed (or didn't need) him to be. And for the next three years they fell into a comfortable rhythm.

When Tony would come home from a bad mission, she would knock over something important-looking and have Jarvis blast AC/DC for him, so he would have something to fix, and have something with which to distract himself for a few days.

And the time when Barton got shot on a mission and nearly died, she showed up at the door of Tony's penthouse with puffy, red eyes. He just hugged her for a few minutes before inviting her in for some scotch and sympathy.

They joked together easily, and they drank together easily. She kept him from starving, or passing out from exhaustion, and he provided her with his bank account in the form of a trust fund - not that she ever used much of it except to pay off her suffocating student loans.

But then came the day when Barton finally proposed to Darcy. And Tony felt like he had just found her all over again, with no idea what to do.

Pepper threw herself into planning the wedding, since Darcy was out of her depth there. And the whole event was - like any Pepper Potts organized event - flawlessly elegant, even if it was a bit more than both the bride and groom were strictly comfortable with. But Pepper, being Pepper, of course made sure to include a handful of touches that were all Clint and Darcy.

Darcy asked Tony to walk her down the aisle. He wasn't sure she would, since they certainly didn't have the most conventional father-daughter relationship. But he was touched that she wanted him to give her away, all the same. He definitely didn't tear up when she asked. Not at all. He just had something in his eye.

*

Being part of such a team, Darcy and Clint had an easy pick of the wedding party. Jane, Natasha, and Pepper were Darcy's bridesmaids, while Thor, Bruce, and Steve were Clint's groomsmen.

Darcy had grown especially close to both Natasha, and Pepper since showing up at the tower with Jane three years ago. Natasha was the terrifying, deadly, and sometimes surprisingly gentle sister she'd never had. While Pepper fell into a strange category of her own. Definitely not quite a mother figure, despite being with her father (which still felt strange to call Tony, given their very unique relationship), and yet she looked out for Darcy, sometimes in an almost maternal way. Darcy had known a friend in high school who her other friends would occasionally, jokingly call "mom." This girl would remind them to push in their chairs, and sternly remind them to tip their waiter when they went out to eat. Darcy supposed her relationship with Pepper was much like that, except that Pepper also signed her paychecks.

When Darcy stepped out of the room she and the girls had been using to get ready, Tony was kissing Pepper on the cheek. But when he glanced up at Darcy, the look on Tony's face was one she had never seen before. He looked mildly stunned, and almost _sentimental_? That was a new one.

Darcy's dress was short and sassy - just like her. The sleeveless bodice cut a straight line across her collarbones, and the dress had an open back that was held together at the bottom by two white bows. The skirt flared out into a flouncy, knee-length a-line that showed off her trusty Docs which she insisted on wearing. And her hair was rolled up with a few stubborn curls that had escaped to frame her face.

Around her neck, she wore the necklace that Clint had gotten her for their last anniversary. It was one of his fixed blade arrowheads that he had taken to a jeweler and had a few deep purple amethysts embedded around the center. It was perfectly Darcy. A little punk, a little glam, and a little piece of Clint to wear over her heart.

"Wow," Tony said, stepping over and taking Darcy's arm. "You look beautiful, Lewis. Barton's gonna flip."

"Well that was what I was going for. So let's get this show on the road. The faster we get down the aisle, the faster I get cake." Darcy threw her bridal party a wink.

A few minutes later, the other ladies had made their way down the aisle and were standing up at the front. Tony held out his arm to Darcy, which she took, giving it a squeeze as she did so. She adjusted her bouquet of purple Gerbera daisies, and gave him a solid nod.

Happy, who was acting both as security as well as an usher, smiled at them and opened the doors as they heard the music kick up.

For all his awkward trepidation about having his only kid (that he knew of - let's be real) get married to one of his teammates, it disappeared the second he saw Barton's face seeing Darcy.

Barton looked as if Santa had shown up in front of him and gifted him with every present he'd ever asked for as a child, plus a million dollars. And unless Tony was mistaken, those were tears shining in the archer's eyes. He felt every bit of hesitation he had ever harbored about the couple - from his weird, intermittent fatherly protectiveness, to his concerns about it affecting the team dynamic - vanish in that instant.

He always mostly trusted Darcy's instincts, but now he had complete faith in them. Darcy had found a man who looked at her like water in a drought; Like she was the answer to every problem he might ever have.

They made it down the aisle, and Clint and Darcy said their vows - with only two inappropriate comments thrown in the whole time. And when they kissed, Darcy actually jumped on Clint, who caught her as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

*

If Tony was afraid that the reception was going to be some stuffy, black-tie event, he couldn't have been more wrong. Leave it to Pepper to get every detail down perfectly. From the mini cheeseburgers and tacos that were brought around on trays during the cocktail hour, to the playlist that ranged from Metallica, to Taylor Swift and Beyoncé (mostly for Thor, who Odin bless him, had become obsessed with Midgardian pop music), to Sir Mix-a-Lot, to Journey, and back around to AC/DC.

The speeches were the perfect mix of entertaining and just a little sentimental thrown in. With Jane recounting her nights spent star-gazing with Darcy on the roof of the car dealership back in Puente Antiguo, and describing in detail the threats that Darcy had lobbed at Agent Coulson when SHIELD had stolen her iPod. Thor had regaled the guests with the story of the first time he had met Clint, when the acrobatic archer had dropped down from the ceiling during breakfast, and ended up taking Mjölnir to the gut because Thor had mistaken him for an intruder.

Steve, of course, wished them both the most sincere and eloquently worded congratulations that brought nearly everyone to tears. But definitely not Tony. He just had allergies. High pollen count and whatnot.

Darcy and Clint's first dance was to Elvis Presley's _Can't Help Falling In Love_ due to Clint's long-harbored and semi-secret thing for Elvis.

With neither of them being too experienced in the art of ballroom dancing (though Clint wasn't too shabby when he danced with Natasha - who had a way of totally leading him without it looking at all like she was leading, because of course she did), they mostly swayed in a safe circle, with one of Darcy's hands around his neck, while the other clasped his tightly. Clint's other hand held her to him as they danced to the sultry tones of The King.

"How ya' feelin', Mrs. Barton?" Clint asked her, brushing his lips against her ear.

"Pretty damn happy, Mr. Lewis." It was a joke they had started when they had first gotten engaged. They had both decided to keep their own names, but they joked about switching names altogether. "How about you?"

"Never been happier." His thousand watt grin told the truth in his words.

Darcy matched his smile and rose up to her tiptoes to kiss him soundly as the music faded out.

Clint went to go sit back down, but Darcy stayed standing. She walked over to where Tony sat, fairly ensconced with Pepper, and grabbed his hand, startling him out of whatever probably dirty thing he had been whispering in the redhead's ear.

"What the hell, Lewis?" Tony exclaimed as she manhandled him out of his chair and onto the dance floor.

"Father-daughter dance, Tony." Darcy explained.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I didn't agree to this!" He protested, as she grabbed one of his hands, and placed the other on her back for him.

"I know. Because I didn't ask you." She smirked as John Mayer's _Daughters_ began to play. Where Clint had a semi-secret thing for Elvis, she had a not-so-secret thing for John Mayer. "It was Pepper's idea anyways."

Tony looked back over to the table where Pepper and Natasha had their heads together and were giggling at his stubborn antics.

Tony muttered something under his breath about traitors, and never trusting redheads, but he ultimately resigned himself to the slow, circular sway that Darcy was leading him in. Turns out it wasn't so bad after all.

"I'm really happy for you, Lewis."

She looked up from where her eyes had been focused on his lavender tie, which had gone slightly crooked since the ceremony.

"I think you and Barton are great. And I know he's good to you. Besides if he ever pisses you off, or does something shitty, I can graze him with a repulsor in the field and just blame the chaos of whatever we're fighting at the time." He was rambling a bit now.

Darcy rolled her eyes at him. "I love you too, Tony." She rose up on her toes again, this time to peck Tony on the cheek.

Tony didn't blush. He'd just had a few drinks, and dancing made his face a little flushed. That's all.

"Yeah. I love you, Darce." He said seriously. "I'd be lying if I said I'd ever known your mom really well, but I bet she's proud of you. You're a pretty great kid."

Darcy definitely didn't tear up at that. Mascara was just a bitch. That's it, really.

*

Tony Stark didn't know he had a daughter until she was nineteen, he didn't meet her until she was twenty four, and when she was twenty seven he danced with her at her wedding. But by the time she was twenty nine, he had learned that prolonged exposure to certain kinds of low-grade radiation that could be found in certain science labs could apparently fuck with birth control implants. And that was when he found out he was going to be a grandfather.  
("Can they call me 'IronPops'? Because I feel like that's way cooler than 'Grandpa.'"  
"No, Tony. My kid is not going to call you 'IronPops.' That sounds like some kind of fucked up breakfast cereal."  
"What about 'IronGramps?' I'd be cool with that too."  
"Ugh. Tony."  
"What?")


End file.
